Patients that are regularly watching medical TV series develop unrealistic expectations about hospital service and are less satisfied with their patient experience than patients who don’t watch medical TV series.

Influencing Images

The images and situations depicted in many medical TV series create the wrong expectations in patients which lead to disappointment and negative experiences during their stay in a hospital. The scenes depicted in medical TV series are set to create engaging stories and increase viewer numbers and are not necessarily meant to reflect reality. That’s the reason why doctors are carrying the infusion bag next to the patients bed by themselves, show no reluctance when they are called to the hospital at most uncommon times and are in general extraordinarily committed, generous, competent and patient-oriented.

Frequent TV viewers have higher expectations

Kai Witzel, a German doctor, interviewed patients about their television viewing behavior and their satisfaction with the time spent by medical doctors, service and general experience. He found out that patients who regularly follow medical TV series and think that the scenes shown in these TV series reflect the reality of hospital operations are significantly less satisfied with the time doctors and nurses have spent with them. Additionally they rated the satisfaction with doctors lower than those that prefer game or quiz shows. These patients also believe that the scenes in medical TV series do not reflect reality.

The Implications for Doctors

It becomes increasingly important that doctors not only focus on the outcome of patient treatment but also on the atmosphere and experience that is created while interacting with patients. And it becomes increasingly important to understand your patients – and the amount of medical TV series that they watch – in order to provide a remarkable patient experience. I wonder which hospital will be the first to ask patients whether they watch a lot of medical TV series in order to provide differentiated services to these customers.

The Implications for other Industries

Remarkable customer experiences are the result of delivering an experience that exceeds a customer’s expectations. The most important task that companies have to do is to understand customer expectations and how they differ in between different customers. The key is then to deliver on and exceed these customer expectations with differentiated but customized products and services.

Further Links (Only available in German):

• Arztbild in den Medien: Dr. Stefan Frank hätte sich mehr Zeit genommen
• Einfluss des Fernsehkonsums auf die Angst vor einer Operation